Common Knowledge

de Nancy M. Dixon, Nancy M. Dixon

While external knowledge -- about customers, about competitors -- is critical, it rarely provides a competitive edge for companies because such information is equally available to everyone. But internal "know-how" that is unique to a specific company -- how to introduce a new drug into the diabetes market, how to decrease assembly time in an automobile plant -- is the stuff of which sustained competitive advantage is made. Dr. Dixon was one of the early thought leaders in the Knowledge Management field with her book, Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive By Sharing What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, 2000. That book was based on a research study of how fifteen of the most successful companies were leveraging their knowledge. Her work was seminal in developing the early theory that demonstrated that different transfer processes were needed for the sharing of tacit knowledge vs. explicit knowledge. She has continued to advance the leading edge of understanding about the expanding role that knowledge plays in organizations. - Publisher.